Howard Mills does not have much money, or support, or, for that matter, basic name recognition in his bid to unseat United States Senator Charles E. Schumer. But Mr. Mills did manage to land a blow in his long-shot bid this week.

Mr. Mills's staff pored over documents and maps and found that during his years in office, Mr. Schumer chartered private planes 603 times, spending $409,253 of taxpayer money. They asserted that they had caught the senator using tax dollars to fly around the state to raise campaign cash, which would be illegal, and turned their findings over to The New York Times.

Asked for a response to Mr. Mills's claims, Mr. Schumer's staff began its own review, and found that on some 35 occasions, Mr. Schumer had let taxpayers foot the bill for his political and fund-raising trips.

It was, if nothing else, a humbling moment for Mr. Schumer, a Democrat, whose office described the questionable billing as "accounting errors." After having tried to effectively ignore his opponent as irrelevant, Mr. Schumer's staff instead had to announce that the senator's campaign was - because of Mr. Mills's initial inquiries - returning some $20,000 to the federal government.

AFTER terrorists beheaded Korean hostage Kim Sun-il, The New York Times kept the photo showing the horror of his final moments off yesterday's front page. Instead, the Times' front page bizarrely describes Kim as "sitting or kneeling quietly" as he waited to die — in reality the photo, back on Page A-11, shows Kim with his mouth open wide in terror, and the video shows him shaking with fear.

One of the lessons of history, Albright continued, is that "if you don't stop a horrific dictator before he gets started too far--that he can do untold damage." "If the world had been firmer with Hitler earlier," said Albright, "then chances are that we might not have needed to send Americans to Europe during the Second World War."

Mr. Clinton describes as a "liar" Kathleen Willey, a one-time White House aide, who accused him of groping her during a November 1993 interview at the White House when, she testified under oath in federal court, Mr. Clinton was "very forceful" in the unwanted sexual advance — kissing her on the mouth, touching her breasts and putting his hands under her dress.

6. UNRAVELING THE PLOT:Confessions of an al Qaeda honcho offer a deeper understanding of 9/11 and its planners

By June 2000, flight training had begun in earnest, and bin Laden and his associates began selecting the "muscle," the hijackers who would help take over the cockpit and overcome any resistance. The men began traveling to Afghanistan for "special training on how to conduct hijackings, disarm sky marshals, and handle explosives and knives."